A free program this Wednesday March 19 at the David A. Howe Library
By Kathryn Ross, Vice President of the Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society
WELLSVILLE – At 6 p.m. Wednesday in the David A. Howe Library, Historian Steve Cotton will give a talk entitled “A Look At a Catalog House.” This program is hosted by the Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society and is free and open to the public.
Starting in the early part of the 20th Century mail order catalog companies such as Sears and Roebuck and Montgomery Ward, along with Bennett Homes of Tonawanda offered a wide selection of home plans and kits in their catalogs. These homes, which arrived by railroad, could be ordered and constructed for a cost savings of between 30 and 40 percent.
They became a very popular way of building homes across the nation and in Wellsville. Canisteo Town Historian Steve Cotton has researched the phenomenon and discovered a number of catalog houses in Wellsville. He will show photos of those houses in his program and will also discuss how to recognize a catalog house.
At the program Cotton will also offer his books for sale, including his recent publication about the Orphan Train and its connection to Hartsville. Last year the TRGHS sponsored a program at the library with Cotton concerning the Orphan Train which was very well attended.
The Thelma Rogers Genealogical and Historical Society sponsors similar programs throughout the year which are free of charge and open to the public. In the upcoming months, Photographer Melanie Hunt, Historian Craig Brack, Alfred Bread Pan Ceramicist Karen Tufty, and Edward Riley on blacksmithing in Wellsville, are scheduled to speak. The programs will be announced and information posted.
The members of the TRGHS and the Nathaniel Dike Museum encourages the public to attend these free programs and to come to Cotton’s program to see if you live in a catalog house. They also invite the public to visit the museum on Dyke Street in the old firehall and discover Their family’s roots. The museum opens May 7th and will be open through October from 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesdays. Call 585-610-5343 to make special arrangements.
